Schmitz v Sonoma (Privacy)

Six years ago, Sonoma County code enforcement (CES) launched a warrantless drone surveillance program that officials said would address unpermitted cannabis grows in hard to access rural areas. But it has since become a runaway spying operation with no accountability, trampling residents’ right to privacy in and around their homes and targeting people for a wide array of unrelated code violations that have resulted in millions of dollars in excessive fines.

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California and co-counsel O’Melveny & Myers LLP sued Sonoma County on behalf of three longtime residents. The lawsuit calls on the Sonoma County Superior Court to block code enforcement from conducting aerial surveillance on someone’s home and private life without first getting a warrant – as is required by the California Constitution.